64 hours

It has been another tech week. Those weeks are really long. And this one wasn't even that bad. I put in 64 hours this week - and that is really low for most shows. Two days in the rehearsal hall doing runs and last minute stuff. Then we had to move all of the props and furniture down to the stage and re-organize. And then four 12 hour days of adding in lights, sound and effects. But I am glad that it is done.

This show has an actress that shall remain nameless, let's just call her the Queen (I do). She is a bit demanding of my time. I have my own job description that does not include slave of the actors, in fact there are 21 pages in the Canadian Theatre Agreement that acts as my general contract - and none of those pages include the word slave. On Saturday she walked off stage where I was to receive her prop (and reset it during a scene change). She then pulled her hat pin and held it out for me to catch - if I wouldn't have stuck out my hand I am sure she would have dropped it. Then she handed me her hat and pressed her jacket into me so that I had no choice but to grab it. I nicely said "Ok, let me show you where you can hang this up" "No. That's okay". With no other choice I hung it up. She followed me over to the wardrobe area and asked me where the mirrors where (she had been given a tour of the space already). I said "The mirrors are right beside the hooks that you can hang your jaket and hat on".
Yesterday she didn't hand her stuff to me, but put it down on my props area - not the correct place. If she had a quick change I would be more than happy to accomodate - but she has ten minutes. That is just one example of the way she has made me her slave.